- Hello everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors."

I'm Jenny Silac and we've got an exciting show in store for you this week.

Now, earlier in the week, Jordan Brown was able to tag along on an early season turkey hunt.

He's got a lot of great footage to share with us.

You won't wanna miss that story and Jimmy's got a fishing adventure in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right, Jenny, we do have another adventure on this week's show.

We're gonna do a little fishing on the Detroit River.

This is the time of year when a lot of anglers and a lot of fish migrate to that river and it's always a ton of fun.

We're actually gonna be with some guys from West Michigan heading over to the east side to do a little bit of fishing, and I think we're gonna have time for a little bragging board as well.

Lots of good stuff, you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger and it's time for "Michigan Out of Doors."

♪ From the first spring rains (turkey gobbling) ♪ To the soft summer breeze ♪ Dancing on the pine forest floor ♪ ♪ The autumn colors catch your eyes ♪ ♪ Here come the crystal winter skies ♪ ♪ It's Michigan ♪ Michigan Out of Doors - What a beautiful day in the woods- ♪ Someday our children all will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ The wonder and the love of Michigan ♪ ♪ As the wind comes whispering through the trees ♪ (bird calling) ♪ The sweet smell of nature's in the air ♪ ♪ From the Great Lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shining like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ (guitar strum ends song) - [Voiceover 1] Michigan Out of Doors is presented by By Country Smoke House, a sportsman's destination since 1988, featuring varieties of homemade sausage, jerky, brats, and gourmet entrees.

Holiday gift boxes can be assembled in store or online.

Details at countrysmokehouse.com.

- [Voiceover 2] The Michigan Charter Boat Association has provided education of the Great Lakes fishery for over 52 years.

Information about Great Lakes fishing opportunities as well as captain advocacy can be found at michigancharterboats.com.

- [Voiceover 1] By Green Mark equipment.

Green Mark Equipment is a John Deere dealership network in southwest Michigan and northern Indiana.

Green Mark provides sales and services to farmers, commercial businesses, large property owners, and homeowners.

Information about pricing and products available can be found online at greenmarketequipment.com.

(water trickling softly) (birds chirping) (guitar plays softly) - [Jimmy] Last week I was able to spend a couple of days at a familiar place, Turkey Camp in mid Michigan.

I covered this same camp last year and had a great time.

So I thought I'd come back this year and tag along with a couple of different hunters hoping to fill a turkey tag.

(turkey whistle blowing) (turkeys gobbling in distance) - Well, I think we're gonna check here.

We're gonna do the same thing.

We'll let out some calls and see if there's anything close by and if we don't hear anything here, then we may go up to our north gate or explore some different areas.

We got options, - [Jimmy] Mm hm.

yeah, that'd be good.

- This morning here we are, full moon, clear, 31 degrees.

Be a good morning to shoot one.

(turkey whistle blowing) (birds chirping) (turkey gobbles in distance) (turkey gobbling) (turkey gobbling) (turkey gobbling louder) - [Jimmy] These birds did exactly what we were hoping they would do off of the roost.

And now we just needed them to close about another 20 yards in order to get a shot.

(turkeys gobbling) (turkeys gobbling) (turkey gobbling) (turkey gobbling) (bird calling) - Well, everything was to script until the very end, but... we had three Jakes, two Toms come out down the power line and they were coming right into the calls and you got the decoy out.

Everything was working to plan.

They got to about what we figure was 65, 70 yards and they locked up and couldn't coax 'em in closer.

But we were... we were on 'em and they were making a lot of noise.

Super exciting.

We're ready to get back on 'em (laughs).

- In the game, that's all you can ask for.

(turkey whistle blows loudly) - [Jimmy] We hunted hard for a majority of the day and never really did get another bird going.

But spirits were high around camp as the main focus of this weekend is not just about turkeys.

- We're here at our camp in Mecosta County, the Doyle brothers' camp.

We're here for our second annual turkey camp.

This weekend I'm very excited to have my three brothers, Pat, Mike, and Danny, his son-in-law, Nick, my son, Cayden, nephew, Brendan, and our buddy, Mike.

So we've got a, got a great group of guys and just thrilled to have everybody here.

For us, my brothers and I, you know, it's all about getting together and everybody's busy schedule, it doesn't happen that often.

We haven't been big turkey hunters, real active with it, but you know, now we're getting into it and got a buddy that's a real good caller - It looks good.

and he's a fanatic turkey hunter and just a great opportunity to get together, enjoy camp.

The camaraderie is the number one thing that we love.

And yeah, it's just, you know, it's just a great time to get together.

- [Hunter In Background] It's almost like a map.

- Finished day one.

We had plenty of birds in on this power line here, but we also had birds stay up in the north gate, so we ended up roosting going up there and roosting up on the north gate, and Nick, we had 'em where?

We had 'em just this side- - [Nick] Up there.

- Right, just this side of these pines.

So I think the plan would be tomorrow to get, get a group up here, come into these pines and call 'em up into this field.

What do you think?

- Up to you.

Bring 'em up to you.

- Yes sir.

We just talked about getting above 'em, right?

- Yep, getting above 'em.

- You know they're gonna roost along the creek, right?

- Yeah, they're in there right now, tucked into bed.

- Yeah, those cedars, everything else, you put 'em to bed, call 'em up like you always like to do.

- Yep, yep.

Yeah, we talked about that today.

Call 'em up, right?

- Yes sir.

Call 'em right up into that field.

- That's perfect.

- We get a shooter in there and- - [Hunter with black hat] That's exciting.

Oh man.

(Fire crackling) - [Mike] We'll have one ready to roll, it don't matter.

- [Hunter with black hat] Well that's a great way to finish the day.

- [Mike] Absolutely.

- [Hunter with black hat] Is put a couple on the roost and get excited for tomorrow morning.

(soft music) (turkeys gobbling) (turkey chirping) (turkeys gobbling in distance) (birds chirping) (soft music) (turkey chirping) (turkey chirping) - [Jimmy] Our game plan for this hunt was working out perfectly with nine long beards making their way out to the small field we were sitting on and two of them heading our way.

(birds chirping) (turkeys gobbling) - [Nick] (whispering) Yeah, I'm up over 'em right now.

(indistinct whispering) (birds chirping softly) (whispering) I got them up on the left.

I got 'em both second.

(turkeys gobbling) (birds chirping softly) (whispering) I'm up on the left.

(gun fires) Well, you know, got out here early, just like Mike was saying.

Birds were out in front, down in the cedar swamp, roosted up.

Weather was a little iffy, you always gotta go.

Came out.

(gun clicks) Birds were, it was a spring symphony.

Birds were hammering on the roost.

Flew down a little later than they did yesterday and had about seven long beards worked their way out, a couple hens, another two, had plenty of options.

There they go again.

Cayden and Mike are sneaking up this way now.

See if they can tax 'em a little more.

But had, uh... yeah, I had seven kind of hung up with some hens out in the field working left.

Two came out on a string right into the decoy spread like we drew it up, laid the hammer down.

- [Jimmy] It was a great morning in the turkey woods to be sure.

And as a nice added bonus, Nick's Tom sported a double beard.

About five minutes after the shot, the rain started.

So we quickly headed back to camp and although we were the first ones there, it didn't take long for the others to show up.

- Way to go, way to go.

(hand patting back) Awesome, awesome.

Wait till you hear the story and see the video footage.

- There's a tree, go get the lockdown.

- [Hunter] Great footage.

- [Nick] Nine, nine times.

- [Jimmy] Thanks to the Doyle family for having me in camp once again.

It was a fun couple of days here in mid Michigan, and I'm looking forward to more early mornings in the turkey woods this spring.

- A beauty.

(cheerful music) (music ends) - Well, as you can see, those guys had a ton of fun there at the turkey hunt and those turkey camps are pretty special.

We're gonna shift gears now and head south and a little east to the Detroit River where this time of year there's a lot of fish and a lot of anglers.

(tires rumbling softly on pavement) - Welcome to madness.

(soft guitar music) (water rushing softly) - [Jimmy] Springtime means many things here in our great state, and one of them is the migration of fish and anglers to the mighty Detroit River.

We launched with the masses today and made our way to the Trenton Channel with the captain Mike Jansen.

Mike lives in West Michigan, but gets to the east as much as possible.

Today we had just gotten our lines in the water when we heard the magical two words that every angler loves to hear.

- Fish on.

(clicking) - First, literally the second jig.

You knew it a good one.

- It's a good one.

It's a good one.

(laughing) - Well that took a long time.

- [Mike] I don't think I lifted it twice.

(fish splashing) - There we go, all right.

- Alright, take care of it, Chris.

Please (indistinct) - [Chris] Run it out here.

- [Jimmy] Nice job front of the boat.

- Number one.

Yeah, so this morning we're fishing about 20, 23 feet of water.

- [Chris] Where the fires at?

- They bit on purple in the early mornings.

So that's what we got on.

The whole trick to this, obviously, and everybody will tell you that online is to stay vertical, so we just do the best we can.

We got light winds this morning, so I don't, I'm not gonna have to do much in the way of working the boat, we'll just let the current do the work.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- Yeah, so that's it.

Obviously it's a presentation issue.

If you don't, if you don't stay vertical, you don't catch fish.

Color is a big issue too, but the color won't matter if your presentation isn't right.

So you'll, you'll catch fish with the wrong color.

You just won't catch as many.

You won't catch any fish if your presentation isn't right.

So, some mornings you have to figure out if they want it more aggressive and sometimes they just want more of a swimming action up and down.

You really need to stay within a foot of the bottom because after that you get out of the strike zone.

So if jerking, you know, three feet up off of the bottom, your bait for all practical purposes is out of the strike zone two thirds of the time.

And then of course that limits your catch.

- Just over 15, 15 and a half.

Perfect.

We good.

- He actually, he actually hit it on the way up and missed it and I let it back down and he, and he snapped it.

(fish splashing) He's, you're gonna have to bump him.

- Okay.

- I don't know if he's gonna make it.

- Ooh, he's on the edge.

- Living on the edge.

♪ Livin' on the edge - Not eating three extra minnows.

This winter's gonna potentially save his life.

(laughter) - He ate pretty good though.

- Pinch his tail.

- Yeah, pinch the tail, yeah you're over 15.

- Yeah we're good.

- [Jimmy] Also, joining us today was Chris Alfanar and buddy of mine, Brad Radel.

Both good anglers and we're both quick to put fish in the boat.

- [Mike] When you're jigging out here, right, you wanna keep in mind that if you think about it like this, absent of any wind, the boat and the jigs and everything are gonna drift down with the current like they should.

The only thing that changes that, of course, are the wind and the waves.

So I've gotta use a trolling motor and maintain boat control by moving the boat into the wind.

That becomes a real issue if you have like a up current wind that's holding you up, but you think, oh, I'm doing fine, I'm going along all right but actually, you actually need to be powering down current with the current into the wind to maintain proper boat control and presentation.

- [Jimmy] We got a good wind this morning, right?

- We have, this is, we have a no wind at all, so I hardly have to touch the troller, which is a welcome relief after the last three days of fishing.

Things might change this, later this morning, but hopefully we'll do some pretty good damage before that.

- [Jimmy] Mike guides for salmon, bass, and walleye, but really does it because he just loves to fish.

And this time of year that means as many trips to Detroit as possible.

- So I try to get down here two, three, four times for two, three, four days at a time.

As a full-time psychologist and full-time father, I don't, don't have as much time as obviously I would like to have, but that's okay.

- Was catching a little grief for sucker fishing while we're supposed to be walleye fishing.

So I figured I better get serious about this.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

We got an inch to spare.

There we go.

(splash) - [Jimmy] Good job, buddy boy.

- Thank you, thank you my friend.

- [Jimmy] Can you do some guiding down here as well?

- Ah, yes, yep, I do some guiding.

April is walleyes on the Detroit River.

May is salmon fishing and bass fishing.

In western Michigan, June is usually bass fishing.

And then July, August, and September is mostly salmon fishing.

I run guiding trips for walleyes, bass, and salmon, so... - [Jimmy] How'd you get started doing that?

- [Mike] That's a good question.

I was hired as a first mate, it'll be 30 years ago this summer on the Scuttlebutt, captained by Dave Helder in Holland, Michigan and I did that for five years before I got my own captain's license and started running my own trips.

So, I'm probably a salmon fisherman at heart.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

(fish splashing) - Get that potlicker.

- Very nice.

- Purple ice.

- No need to bump this guy.

- No need to bump him.

Good looking fish.

- [Jimmy] As we grinded away at the fish, I had Mike talk a little bit about the rods and setup for the day.

- Anything from six to seven feet long is gonna work.

Personally, I like a longer rod, which is kind of goes against what other people tend to recommend, but I like that for a couple reasons.

First of all, to stay vertical, I can move my rod tip around more with a longer rod than a short rod.

And I also, if I'm jigging two rods like I am now, I've just got more, a little more time to bring that rod up before I can get my both hands on that rod with a fish on it.

I like a, I like a stiffer rod myself because this is all about jig control.

So if I have a whippy rod, like a steelhead rod, then I'm not gonna be able to control that jig like I need to with a stiffer rod.

Now I got the drag too loose I think.

- I think so.

(line clicking softly) (soft laughter) - Oh shit.

That might be a walleye.

- [Jimmy] That's really bent over.

- Yeah.

(line clicking) - [Mike] It better not be a big old carp or something.

- [Chris] Maybe a smallie.

- Oh, it's a big sheep head.

- [Chris] Frickin' sheep head.

- [Mike] Don't reel anymore.

- [Chris] Oh, you potlicker.

(water splashing) - [Mike] You potlicker.

(Jimmy laughing) - [Jimmy] Well, we caught 'em all today.

(laughs) - Yeah, we sure have.

- [Jimmy] We did catch a sucker, sheep head, rock bass, and a white bass on this trip.

Lots of variety in the river for sure.

Mike ran us through the line that he likes to use on the river today.

- I have a four foot leader of fluorocarbon.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- Eight or 10 pound test for four primary reasons.

The first one is there's a, there's a swivel between those.

So that prevents any line twist.

The second reason is if we are fishing clearer water and that can happen sometimes and I think that floral gets you a few more bites than the tying directly to the, to the braid.

The other reason I like it is when I'm running charters, sometimes the clients wanna reel that fish right up to the tip of the rod, so I can tell them to reel up to the the swivel and then I don't have to... worry about trying to net a fish that's six inches off the end of the rod tip.

- [Jimmy] Gotcha.

- [Mike] And then the fourth reason is that you are gonna get snagged here and I don't wanna ruin other guys' drifts by trying to break off braid, which can take a long time and I might break, break that braid off 30 feet out, 40 feet out, right with that, with that fluorocarbon leader, that fluorocarbon leader is going to break first and I'm gonna lose a little bit of leader, but I'm not gonna leave a whole bunch of line in the river and I'm not gonna hang up somebody else's drift.

- [Jimmy] We had to really work for our fish today.

The run is definitely on the backside and many boats today were struggling to find fish at all.

One of the cooler parts of the day was when Mike not only shared what to use with one of his buddies, but actually rigged some up and dropped them off.

Always good to see sportsmen helping each other out.

The wildlife fishing in the Detroit River brings anglers from around the world as it is simply one of the best places to target this fish.

Good luck if you get one more trip in.

It's definitely a special place right here in Michigan's Out of Doors.

(soft guitar music) (music continues) (music continues) - Thank you for joining us this week for Michigan Out of Doors.

Make sure you join us in upcoming weeks.

We'll have some more turkey hunting action headed your way and of course some more springtime fishing.

If you'd like to see a little bit more in depth about the TV show or check out some behind the scenes information, you can always do that online.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

Online is a good way to kinda keep tabs on us.

You can do that through the website, our different social media platforms, as well as YouTube.

Lots of places you can be checking us out.

Make sure you are joining us over the next couple of weeks.

More turkey action, more good spring fishing.

It is a great time of year to be a sportsman here in the state of Michigan.

We'll see you right back here next week on your PBS station.

- [Voiceover 1] Michigan Out of Doors is presented by - [Voiceover 3] Do you dream of somewhere bigger than your backyard?

You can get there with GreenStone.

Whether you wanna hunt, fish, hike, or just watch the sunset, we're ready to help you own your place in the great outdoors.

To learn more, visit greenstonefcs.com - [Voiceover 1] By Alta Equipment Company, providing sales rental service and parts because uptime matters.

From earth moving to landscaping and light construction, Alta offers over 50 brands across seven Michigan locations to serve you.

more information online or eight four four go, the number two, Alta.

- [Voiceover 2] Closed captioning brought to you by Double D Ranch Foundation, a non-profit 501 C3 foundation working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

Learn more at ddranchfoundation.com.

(cheerful country music) ♪ When I wander far away ♪ A dream stays with me night and day ♪ ♪ It's the road that leads to my home state ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ Changing seasons paint the scene ♪ ♪ Like rainbow trout in a hidden stream ♪ ♪ The whitetail deer and the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan man ♪ That's where I'm from and I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above I love this land ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ From the Keweenaw down to Saint Joe ♪ ♪ Kalamazoo east to Monroe ♪ To Saint Marie and back again ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan man ♪ That's where I'm from and I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above I love this land ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ Ahhh... ♪ A Michi gah meh ♪ We mah way mah sis tom ♪ Wah say ah ♪ Ma say wem ♪ Em way ga moh ♪ Pwem we nah me ♪ Am nah